What came first: being a homebody, or saving money?

A recent realization: I absolutely LOVE my current lifestyle. And my current lifestyle just so happens to save me an insane amount of money each month.

I love hanging out at home rather than being out and about shopping (yes, even at Target) or at the movies or an amusement park or even a coffee shop.

I love laying on the couch reading a book.

I love watching Parks and Rec with Mike on Netflix.

I love batch cooking 16 breakfast burritos at once (here's the recipe I found, SO GOOD, we’ve been eating these for breakfast for weeks and I am obsessed).

I love walking around our neighborhood listening to podcasts.

I love having our friends over to have a few beers rather than going to a bar.

I love listening to new playlists on Spotify while cooking dinner or writing a blog post (as I write this, I'm listening to the “Lighten Up, Man!” playlist on Spotify, it’s good!)

I love NOT driving to places on the weekend or after work to shop. I hate traffic and hate having my precious non-work time taken up by driving all over the place. Ugh.

But what came first?

Do I love being home because that's my personality, and this has the unintended consequence of helping me save money?

Or does the fact that I want to save money have an unintended consequence of making me like staying home?

It’s an interesting question to ponder.

In my case...

I probably trend towards being a homebody at heart. I guess I’m lucky that I enjoy the solitude of being at home and not feel like I need to go places and spend money to keep myself occupied.

In YOUR case...

However, if you are the type that feels like you need to always be out and about to keep occupied - I bet if you start slowing down and cutting down on some of your paid activities, you’ll realize how much you like doing other, non-spendy, things.

I think too many people equate saving money with NOT having fun. If you find yourself thinking that way, change your thinking! Focus on what things save you money AND make you happy. Once you’ve figured out those things… do more of those and less of the money spending activities.

You'll be shocked at how much money you start to save while having an even MORE enjoyable life!

What things do YOU enjoy doing that also save you money? (once you've listed them in a comment below, be sure to start DOING them more often!)

Some more of mine: Skipping the hair salon by cutting my own hair, having ice cream at home on the couch rather than out at an ice cream shop, making my own food because I can tweak it to taste just like how I want, bringing lunch to work because it means I don’t have to take time off to go buy lunch somewhere, making coffee at home because I can make it taste just how I want it, using the public library, listening to free podcasts, helping Mike plant fruits and vegetables in our backyard garden, making homemade salads because I can put as many delicious toppings on without being charged a fortune... I could go on and on :)